April 1997

Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997
From: John Heinbokel <heinboke@together.net>
To: Thin choy Tang <ttang@mail.sdsu.edu>
Cc: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Interface STELLA with MacroMedia Director

Good Morning,

You are right about STELLA's lack of "friendliness," at least in terms of its interface or, as we have discovered its incompatibility with Apple Script (I don't know enough about the WIN side of the house to know if those versions of STELLA have also been designed as stand-aloneproducts. We have done two things, albeit not easily in either case.

1. We have put together a Hypercard-interfaced Tutorial for instructing new STELLA modelers on the nuts and bolts of building a model. In addition we have incorporated an electronic "users-manual" in the form of an extensive Glossary and have also provided a means where a model can be built from scratch while still connected to the resources of the Tutorial. This is a product that is a constituent of a larger package of products and training services we offer at the Waters Center for System Dynamics at Trinity College.

2. We are putting what we hope are the finishing touches an an introductory package of 12 STELLA models from a range of disciplines. This "Demo Dozen" is designed to introduce the potential modeler to the range of topics and strength of pedagogic application that modeling makes available. This is primarily formatted as an HTML (Netscape) application from which the appropriate models can be "called." The models can be explored and manipulated by users playing with various "policy levers" without any prior STELLA experience or training. When we are convinced that the MAC installer is sufficiently robust, this will be freely available to the community; we have HPS' permission to distribute a Demo copy of their Research4.0 STELLA for those who are truly starting from the ground up.

Hope that's useful, at least as a quick abstract. These products "work," but the interfacing was not as easy as we would have preferred. In both cases, users are still obliged to "Quit" the STELLA application
independently of the Hypercard or Netscape foundations. this leaves a very real possiblity that changes to our original models will be inadvertently saved, to comeback and haunt the next user of the package.

john heinbokel
director, waters center for system dynamics
trinity college of vt
208 colchester ave
burlington, vt 05401
(802) 658-0337 x-353
(802) 658-5446 (fax)
heinboke@charity.trinityvt.edu (my preferred e-mail)
wat-cent@charity.trinityvt.edu (center e-mail)
-----------------------------------------------
On Mon, 31 Mar 1997, Thin choy Tang wrote:

> Greetings to all,
>
> I wonder if anyone in this group is using other software tool such
> as MacroMedia Director as a front-end interface to STELLA? The reason why
> I ask this question is that I found that STELLA does not have userfriendly
> interface.
>
>
> Have a good evening.
> Thin

Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997
From: Chris Jones <Chris_Jones@BAYLOR.EDU>
Subject: New & needing to train
To: SD in K-12 listserve <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>

First a word of introduction - my name is Chris Jones, and I am a co-author and coordinator of technology for a newly funded grant program in the School of Education at Baylor University (Waco, Texas). I have been reading with great interest the postings on this listserv for a couple of weeks, and have decided that you all ("ya'll" from my part of the country) are just the people I need.

Our grant is develop 4 model classrooms (in 2 elementary and 2 middle schools) that have a central focus on primary content, technology integration, and (you guessed it) systems thinking/modeling. To be quite honest, we have extensive background and success in the first two, but no experience with the latter (to be more honest, the addition of SD was a "requirement" of the grantee). In the last month, however, as we have studied SD, we are getting incredibly excited about this piece of our puzzle. It all just makes so much sense (although it is a little frustrating now that I realize how "un-systematic" my thinking was).

While I realize that I have a tremendous amount of material to learn before I'm ready to begin training others, I find myself in the position of needing to develop a training model so that the project can have a foundation from which to develop. We will have two teachers from each school, a technology from each school, some university faculty and perhaps a few K12 administrators that we will need to introduce to the ideas behind system thinking and dynamics as well as to modeling and STELLA.

What are the current training models that you have found to work well? What is the best way to introduce individuals to these ideas? Are there some special "flags" that I have raised already? Can you provide some training model specifics (no. of days, length of days, follow up, support, training agenda, etc.?

Any help on these and other issues would be greatly appreciated.

Chris Jones
Coordinator of Technology
Baylor University
SBC Virtual Village
chris_jones@baylor.edu

From: "JOHN HEINBOKEL" <HEINBOKE@Charity.trinityvt.edu>
Organization: Trinity College of Vermont
To: SD in K-12 listserve <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>,
Chris Jones <Chris_Jones@BAYLOR.EDU>
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997
Subject: Re: New & needing to train
Cc: JPOTASH@Charity.trinityvt.edu, JZIMMERM@Charity.trinityvt.edu

> Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997
> From: Chris Jones <Chris_Jones@BAYLOR.EDU>
> Subject: New & needing to train
> To: SD in K-12 listserve <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>

> First a word of introduction - my name is Chris Jones, and I am a co-author
> and coordinator of technology for a newly funded grant program in the School
> of Education at Baylor University (Waco, Texas).
>
> Our grant is develop 4 model classrooms (in 2 elementary and 2 middle schools)
> that have a central focus on primary content, technology integration, and (you
> guessed it) systems thinking/modeling.
>
>I find myself in the position of needing to develop a training model so that the project can have a
>foundation from which to develop.
>
> What are the current training models that you have found to work
> well? --------------------------------- Chris,

You don't mess around with the easy questions do you? Just jump right in to the $64k one! Training's one of the trickiest pieces we've dealt with. There seem to be a couple of basic considerations that you don't dare overlook, but the variations and special cases and exceptions and... are all pretty impressive.

A couple of things seem basic to us:

1. Modeling and applying models in the curriculum (not the same thing at all) are skills that folks need to develop and grow into. This implies a relatively long time line and the need for continuing support and guidance. A pretty common finding in the k-12 world is that a learning curve extending over about 3 years is pretty typical from first training to reasonably comfortable, facile, and original incorporation of SD approaches in a classroom.

2. Computer simulation modeling is a desired goal for students to achieve and a necessary piece for teachers to become proficient at. Many SD exercises in the classroom do not require computer models (especially for young students and for older students first being introduced to the discipline). We feel, however, that construction or significant exploration of models is the goal toward which folks should be striving and that the critical thinking and organizational skills that are developed through modeling are necessary a foundation for teachers, even when they do not necessarily want or need to incorporate the computer models in their pedagogy.

3. In terms of getting teachers up to speed you have two obvious hurdles: a) provide them with the basic skills and trouble-shooting resources to allow them to become good modelers, and b) get/keep them sufficiently motivated that they will stick with a long and sometimes awkward learning process. Starting small and supporting teachers to develop their own simple application or to identify and use those of others, so that they can experience early positive feedback is essential. Then encouraging and supporting growth in ambition and complexity needs to be provided until the <-->motivation loop (reinforcing) is firmly established.

4. Encourage and support teachers to use modeling and system dynamics to help them become better at what they already do well and want to do better -- support student learning. If it's a piece of the existing job description, it will be much more palatable ( and likely to succeed) than if it were an add-on to an already overcrowded agenda.

How to achieve those basic necessary pieces? There are probably as many options as there are situations. Observing experienced teachers making this work; having access to mentors during the year; 3 day, 1 week, 3 week intensely focused modeling training workshops; computer-aided, self-paced instructional aids; access to a collection of proven SD teaching materials; supported time to share experiences with other teachers; a semester-long content-rich course based on a foundation of computer modeling offered to a cohort of teachers at their school over a full semester (such as our Plagues and People offered to teachers at a local HS last year); supported time during the year to develop new materials and evaluate earlier ones.... I don't think there is any "right" answer or "ideal" training protocol; successful programs have adapted their resources and limitations to customize a program that works (perhaps slowly) for them. Again, a foundation of modeling skill, patience, continued support and development over a period of years are important but not fully defining of successful programs.

I'm sure there are folks on this discussion from successful schools and programs that will be eager to share their stories, so I don't feel obliged to tell what I know of those programs. At Trinity College (in Burlington, VT), we've been engaged for several years in building collegiate applications and developing interdisciplinary curricula, initially for our students, but eventually for extension to secondary schools as well. We have sponsored our own STELLA training programs for high- and middle school teachers (traditional 1 week blitzes with limited follow-up and slow success), have collaborated in other training programs with a variety of protocols.

We have recently used one of our college courses as a content-rich and modeling-rich foundation on which to build a training program for high school teachers at a local school over the full Spring 1996 semester. And, finally, as a result of our seeing the need for follow-up and continuing support and our inability to be on-call continuously, we have developed a couple of computerized, self-paced training tools to help fill the voids.

If any of this piques your interest and you'd like us to move beyond the general and generic, come back, rattle our cages, and mine us for specifics or justifications for what's described above. Good luck with your project; let us know if there's any way for us to contribute.

John -----------------------------------
john f heinbokel
natural sciences and mathematics department
director, waters center for system dynamics
trinity college of vt
208 colchester ave
burlington, vt 05401
(802) 658-0337 x-308
(802) 658-5446 (Fax)
heinboke@chairty.trinityvt.edu (preferrred e-mail)

Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997
From: David Gibson <gibsond@quark.vsc.edu>
Subject: Introduction
To: K-12 Systems Dynamics Discussion <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>

I'm grateful to Rolfe Stanley at UVM for getting me in touch with this discussion. I've enjoyed reading the Oregon comments because I am chairing a statewide effort now to redefine the teaching licensing requirements for Science, Mathematics and Technology in Vermont. We'll have some things to say by June of this year, but expect to be at it for a while after that.

I first learned of systems concepts by bumping around on my own in the late 1970's trying to understand neural nets, consciousness and music - of all things. Most recently, I've been reading the 1994 - 1996 books and articles I can find on Chaos Theory in Social Systems and Psychology. I am currently very much a beginner who is enjoying using a spreadsheet to model and explore a variety of simple logistics equations, and I'm asking everyone I can about the meaning, or potential meaning of the coefficients, etc. especially the interpretation of the driving or bifurcation parameter.

I also use Stella to model systems, and I'm co-teaching a course this summer which will borrow ideas from the Senge "Fieldbook" plus Stella modeling in the context of developing new group-based tools for managing the future of organizations.

I've got a pet thesis about learning in individuals and organizations, which is too naive to mention now, but I hope to join in conversations from time to time seeking to understand the views of others and how those views might contribute to my understanding of systems.

wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw - wWw
David Gibson
<gibsond@quark.vsc.edu>
VISMT Professional Development Specialist (802) 244-8768
Montpelier Schools Director of Curriculum (802) 223-6366
WEB Project Director (802) 229-4660

Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
From: nlux@MIT.EDU (Nan Lux)
Subject: S.D./S.T. Workshops

Hello, k-12sd List!
Below are excerpts from a recent note from Prof. John Heinbokel talking about plans for summer workshops. I can personally vouch that its worth attending and Vermont is so lovely in the summer. Please contact John directly for more details. Regards, Nan
---------------
John Heinbokel wrote:
> Thought I might let you know what we're thinking of here at the Waters Center for on-campus
>programs next summer. If you could pass it on to whoever compiles the "coming attractions" list, I'd
>appreciate it. Jeff (Potash) and I are looking to organize a pair of "Institutes for Innovation" (our third
>year of these) at Trinity during July '97. We haven't actually gotten around to giving either one an
>official name yet but here are thumbnail descriptions:
>
>1. (7-11 July) Focused on relative newcomers to educational system dynamics. Each participant will
>already have a basic understanding of STELLA modeling and come to the Institute with one or two
>relatively simple system dynamics classroom activities in mind. We will provide support and facilitation
>in helping the educators bring their ideas to a reasonable conclusion for AY 97-98 application.
>
>2. (14-25 July) Focused on more experienced educational modelers, in this Institute, individuals or
>teams of educators will engage in designing and constructing more elaborate curricular units, including
>entire courses, founded on a systems dynamics approach.
>
>The primary audience for these Institutes are folks from the various Waters-supported projects. We >anticipate, however, that space will be available for other participants, by application.
>john
>john f heinbokel
>natural sciences and mathematics department
>director, waters center for system dynamics
>trinity college of vt
>208 colchester ave
>burlington, vt 05401
>(802) 658-0337 x-308
>(802) 658-5446 (Fax)
>heinboke@chairty.trinityvt.edu (preferrred e-mail)

Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997
From: Guenther Ossimitz <guenther.ossimitz@uni-klu.ac.at>
Organization: University of Klagenfurt, Austria
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Development of Systems Thinking Skills

Hello, friends of System Dynamics and Systems Thinking!

If you are interested in empirical research concerning the development of systems thinking skills using
SD modelling tools, please try my new online paper about this topic at

http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/users/gossimit/sdyn/gdm_eng.htm

In this paper you can find a short summary of results of my project "Developement of Systems Thinking Skills".

Thanks for your positive reactions about my "System Dynamics Mega Link List" at
http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/users/gossimit/links/bookmksd.htm

I apologize very much that I cannot keep this list up-to-date for the next weeks or so. I have to go to the hospital for some time. So please be patient, I will check all your feedback and suggestions asap!

Best wishes and greetings from the very Heart of Europe!

Dr. Guenther Ossimitz
Abteilung "Didaktik der Mathematik"
University of Klagenfurt
A-9020 Univ.str. 65 AUSTRIA/EUROPE
Phone: +43/463-2700-437 Fax:+43/463-2700-427
mail: ossimitz@bigfoot.com
http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/users/gossimit/main.htm
JESUS IS LORD - YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVER!

Date: Thu, 3 Apr 1997
From: Chuck Estin <chuck@novaproj.org>
Reply-To: cestin@cks.ssd.k12.wa.us
Organization: Nova
To: k12 Systems Dynamics List <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>
Subject: new member intro

Hello k12 Systems folks,

I'm Chuck Estin, an ex-research scientist, and current science teacher at a public alternative high school in Seattle, The Nova Project (http://www.novaproj.org/). I became interested in Systems as a byproduct of trying to find a simple way to teach biology and chemistry. Then I became obsessed with applying Systems principles to everything in my world. When I went back to grad school to get my principal's credential, I ended up writing all of my term papers as a variation on the theme of applying Systems to education.

For three years I've collaborated with our history teacher to teach "Systems Class"- a study of natural and social systems for combined science/history credit. It knocks the socks off the kids, giving them a powerful language for understanding the world.

As I put my efforts into making Nova become a Complex Adaptive System and evolve to a higher state, I realized that everything which works about it is related to the degree to which it follows the principles of natural systems. I am (to the chagrin of my more conservative colleagues) acting as a strange attractor in trying to create a major paradigm shift in the way we get at the root of student motivation. I recently become involved with a project to reform the Seattle Public Schools with a "Personalized Education Group". I want to clone Nova's all around the city, and chop all the big middle and high schools into multi-plexes of optimally sized subschool "cells". (copying what's been done in NY, Philly, Chicago and LA). I'm waiting on grants I wrote to enable me to split my time between Nova teaching, and act as an agent of change at the District level.

Thanx for your time.
-Chuck
http://www.novaproj.org/~chuck

Democratic, alternative high school in Seattle, is expanding over the next couple of years, with openings in several curriculum areas. Currently interested in math and science, particularly. Interested parties please contact cestin@cks.ssd.k12.wa.us. I thought it'd be worthwhile posting this opportunity in case anyone with Systems in their blood is interested in exploring a Seattle connection.

Chuck

Date: Sat, 5 Apr 1997
To: system-dynamics@world.std.com
From: Ed Gallaher <gallaher@teleport.com>
Subject: ANNOUNCE SyM Bowl 97 (SD0793)

Welcome to SyM Bowl 97!

I have not been contributing to this list lately, but I have been following it regularly. Just been too busy.

Most of you know that we ran the first "SyM Bowl" (Systems Modeling Bowl) last April, a competition among high school SD students in the Portland OR area. Although we pretty much made it up as we went along, the event itself went like clockwork. This year's event will be almost a carbon copy, although including what we hope will be incremental improvements.

SyM Bowl evolved from the CC-STADUS (NSF) grant here in Portland, in which we have been training high school teachers in System Dynamics (see message #0770 by Diana Fisher, forwarded by JW Forrester from the K-12 SD list). Teachers are expected to build their own models (in small groups), with the ultimate goal of developing new cross curricular (CC) materials. In addition, they are encouraged to -use- SD models, tutorials, etc. in their classwork, to encourage high school students to build their own models, and as resources and expertise become available, to teach courses in SD modeling and simulation.

SyM Bowl 96 was held at (and co-sponsored by) Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) and the Portland VA Medical Center. (I am a Research Pharmacologist at the Portland VA Medical Center and Associate Professor at OHSU). My not-so-hidden agenda is to simultaneously increase the visibility of SD within the biomedical community. SD has tremendous potential in this realm, but so far is under-recognized. (See recent post by Jim Hargrave to see some positive work in this area.)

The SyM Bowl Concept:

Teams of 2-4 students identify a problem (any area), identify reference behaviors, find experts and reference materials, build a model (simple to start with!), state assumptions, discuss parameter values, conduct sensitivity analyses, consider loop behaviors, and draw conclusions.

Wayne Wakeland, Ph.D., Systems Science dept. Portland State University is the judging supervisor. Six judges are drawn from PSU, OHSU, local SD consultants, and teachers.

We have worked long and hard at developing what we feel are appropriate criteria. However, we will be actively seeking evaluations and suggestions from many of you in the next few months. We want to be sure that this program encourages good modeling practice, and does not evolve into a flashy competition with no underlying substance.

The Event Itself:

A paper (50%) is required (1 week in advance). The writing, formulation of the problem, etc. provides 25% of the score; modeling expertise provides 25% of the score. Papers are evaluated before the day of the event.

Poster presentation (25%). On the day of the event, teams present their models in an open-house forum (9:00-11:30). Each team has a table and a computer, and they develop a background poster to illustrate their project. This session is open to the public, and students are encouraged to circulate and observe other projects. We had 16 teams (42 students) last year. (Ideal size = 15-20 teams.)

Formal presentation (25%) Five finalist teams are selected during lunch. Each team then presents a 15-min talk (overhead transparencies) to the whole audience in an auditorium. After a 30-min break we conclude with an awards ceremony.

Awards include certificates for every participant, plaques for each individual on the five finalist teams, STELLA for each individual finalist (generously provided by HPS), and cash prizes for each individual on the top 3 teams ($250 1st, $150 2nd, $75 3rd). (Note that prizes go to each individual, not to teams, to avoid encouraging a team of 1 or 2 to increase the share; these kids are not dumb!)

SyM Bowl Foundation:

As a result of SyM Bowl 96, and presentations at the K-12 System Dynamics and Systems Thinking meeting at Wheaton College (June 96) and the International SD Meeting (Cambridge, MA, June 1996), we have received offers for several donations. Unfortunately, we did not have the infrastructure required to accept these donations. This led to the establishment of a non-profit corporation (SyM Bowl Foundation), with an initial Board of Directors, and a pending application for non-profit 501(c)(3) status from the IRS.

Our intention is for SBF to serve as the umbrella for similar events elsewhere. We hope to provide materials, schedules, judging criteria, etc. for other interested academic or community groups. Future groups will need some semblance of organization (as a chapter of SBF, for example), but will -not- have take on the burden of IRS approval, etc.

This structure will allow us to seek donations and apply for grants.

(If anyone has the irresistable urge to send a donation, checks should be made out to SyM Bowl Foundation, and mailed to:

SyM Bowl Foundation
12140 SW Merestone Ct.
Tigard OR 97223

Scheduled Visitors to SyM Bowl 97:

Nan Lux (MIT) will attend. Nan is going to work with our local VA and OHSU video people to collect footage of this event. We would like to see this evolve into a program suitable for teachers, administrators, and perhaps local cable access (ours and yours).

Allen Boorstein (NYC), a friend to SD and education and an enthusiastic supporter of SyM Bowl.

Mom (Seattle, WA).

Will Costello will be bringing a team of students from Vermont! We are delighted at the chance to see their work, and to let them participate in this event.

Barry Richmond, Pres. High Performance Systems, Inc. will attend and will serve as a judge.

Various teachers and student visitors will be attending from around the NW (from Seattle WA to Roseburg, OR, etc.)

Invitation:

If anyone has an irresistable urge (like Barry did!) to come see what is happening, please feel free. (Don't wait for the video!) We will be happy to provide travel and lodging advice.

SyM Bowl '97
April 25, 1997
OHSU - 9:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Ed Gallaher, Ph.D.
VA Research Pharmacologist
Assoc. Prof., Physiol/Pharmacol and Behavioral Neuroscience
O.H.S.U.
gallaher@teleport.com

Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
From: nlux@MIT.EDU (Nan Lux)
Subject: "k-12sd" Reminder

Hello Everyone,
Just a brief reminder that if you would like to write a question, introduce yourself and your work, or comment to the whole list, please use...k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu

If you have a request to unsubscribe, questions for me, address change,...do NOT use k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu because that then annoys the entire list. Please contact me directly at mailmasters@sysdyn.mit.edu or my regular email <nlux@mit.edu>.

Thanks,
Nan Lux, k-12sd list administrator

Nan S. Lux, Program Manager, System Dynamics Group
E60-383, 30 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139
Phone: (617) 253-1574 Fax: (617) 252-1998
Email: nlux@mit.edu

Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997
To: Ed Gallaher <gallaher@teleport.com>, k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu, system-dynamics@europe.std.com
From: Samuel Sanchez <rhaa@crosslink.net>
Subject: Re: SyM Bowl 97 - The Forgotten?

Ed,

Congratulations on your achievement and for taking the time to inform the SD public about your SymBowl '97.

Could you please answer the following:

1) What percentage of your students come from minority groups (Hispanic,
African-American, and Native American)?

2) What percentage of (all) your students comes from low-income households? You can use one or two of the following variables a) The student is eligible for free/reduce lunch and/or b) comes from a household earning...for a family of four in 1995 the threshold was $15,569, for a family of three, $12,158. Source:
http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/hhes/income/income95/prs96asc.html

3) Have you studied the overall academic impact of SD "educated" students vs. non SD "educated" students?

As a strong supporter and practitioner of SD, I find many of our great work seems to be focused on one group. Our organization has been working on distributing this, SD, knowledge to a "high risk" population such as low-achieving minority groups including teenage mothers. It has not been
easy and "no one" wants to fund it. But finance does not stop us. As I read about all the great work we, SD community, do, I never read about the population we are targeting. The question to all of us is are we making smart/"supported" kids smarter or is anyone using SD to penetrate those kids who are barely making it? I know from experience it is much easier to work with "smart" kids with supportive parents. I think the real challenge for all of us is to teach SD to those (but not exclusive) kids who are not succeeding. Now that's a challenging model!

Please keep in mind what I mean by "focused on one group." I know someone out there is working with disadvantaged youth, but I also think (based on many conversations with SD educators/supporters) that the bulk of the youth learning/using SD is not of disadvantaged, low-income, minority background. I believe we can get more bang for the bulk if we targeted and supported this population. I also admit it will take major financial support - computer room, staff, material, transportation, etc. to include this
population in SD education SyMBowl participation. This has been our experience. The biggest challenge we face in the Maryland suburbs (just outside of Washington, D.C.) with our low-income population is that the parents/kids don't have transportation available to them. Since the school doesn't offer SD, and we don't have the resources to convince the school to introduce SD, our nonprofit does SD after school on weekends.

We are doing it, but it "ain't" easy!

Thank you,

Samuel Sanchez

*******************************************************
**
* Samuel Sanchez "Creating Tomorrow's Leaders." *
* President *
* Raising Hispanic Academic Achievement, Inc. *
* 4602 North Park Avenue *
* Chevy Chase, MD 20815 *
* (301) 907-8100 (voice) *
* (301) 907-8068 (fax) *
* rhaa@crosslink.net *
* http://www.incacorp.com/rhaa *
* http://www.latinolink.com/news/news97/0125nyou.htm *
* http://inet.ed.gov/pubs/Extending/vol2/prof7.html <-- U.S. Dept. of *
* Ed. Sponsored *
****************************************************

From: Mark Shirley <shirley@parc.xerox.com>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Looking for bay area system dynamicists
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997

(We're looking for teachers in the bay area who are using or have used System Dynamics in their classes. I apologize to others for not having a more focussed forum to ask this question.)

The Pueblo project is a collaboration between Phoenix College and Longview Elementary School in Phoenix, AZ, and Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. We've been experimenting with the use of text-based virtual world servers (MUDs) in the classroom to enhance reading, writing and conversational skills and to bring retirees and other non-teacher adults into the school community.

At this stage of our project, we are very interested in understanding the application of System Dynamics in depth, particularly in the math & science curriculum. We've read "Classroom Dynamics", "Dynamic Modeling", the very helpful Road Maps from MIT and several papers summarizing experiences in various places (basically the first level of materials pointed to in the MIT repository).

Is there an active community of schools teaching System Dynamics in the bay area? Is there significant collaboration between any of the schools? "Classroom Dynamics" mentioned several schools on the peninsula that were, but that book was written several years ago. We are uncertain of the current state. Does anyone on this list know or can anyone point us to people who might know?

Thank you,
Mark Shirley

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 1997
From: Dan Burke <burkeda@n-gate.com>
Reply-To: burkeda@n-gate.com
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Anyone working on SD in Colorado?

Date: Wed, 9 Apr 1997
From: George Richardson <gr383@cnsvax.albany.edu>
Subject: Re: Anyone working on SD in Colorado?
To: Dan Burke <burkeda@n-gate.com>
Cc: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu

Indeed. One of the best corporate modelers and consultants in system dynamics in Mark Paich (PhD, MIT), who teaches as a adjunct at Colorado College and consults from Denver, I believe. I could get his current address if needed.

But I don't know of people at the k-12 level. Perhaps Mark could help stimulate such activity.

...GPR

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
George P. Richardson
G.P.Richardson@Albany.edu
Professor of public administration, public policy & information science
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
University at Albany - SUNY, Albany, NY 12222
Phone: 518-442-3859
Fax: 518-442-3398
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
From: jsoderquist@hps-inc.com (Jane Soderquist)
Subject: STELLA Interface Features

Hi k-12 list-serve:
My name is Jane Soderquist; I work as Education Manager at High Performance Systems, the creators of the STELLA software.

I responded directly to Thin choy Tang's email recently on his questions regarding STELLA's interface features. Since that time, I've received a few inquiries requesting that I post information about STELLA's interface capability to the entire list-serve. Generally, I err on the side of being quiet out here--mostly surveying your interesting work in System Dynamics. But given the interest in multi-media technology and how it relates to STELLA, I think this one is worth sharing....

Prior to version 3.0 of STELLA, no interface creation features existed in the software. Beginning with STELLA version 3.0, we provided sliders and graphical function input devices to facilitate user interaction with models. We also added message posting and numeric displays to graphs and tables to increase the ease of providing output for the model user. Version 4.0 provided enhancements to these devices. In keeping with our desire to promote user understanding of the model, we also incorporated in version 4.0 loop and logic tracing buttons and a causal loop object (which is directly linked to the model structure).

Currently, our development is focused largely on developing the interface features of STELLA to further promote its ease-of-use and communication capability. You'll be hearing more about these most recent changes soon. I'll be certain to post information to the list-serve. You may also want to visit our web site at www.hps-inc.com.

I hope this information is helpful. We're always interested in feedback on ways we can further improve our products. Please feel free to communicate directly with me if you have any questions or need additional information.
Thanks.
Jane Soderquist

----------------Jane Soderquist-----------------
| High Performance Systems, Inc. |
| 45 Lyme Road, Suite, 300 |
| Hanover, NH 03755 |
| http://www.hps-inc.com * support@hps-inc.com |
-----------jsoderquist@hps-inc.com--------------

Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997
From: Thin choy Tang <ttang@mail.sdsu.edu>
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Anyone working on ST/SD in San Diego?

Greetings to all,

I would like to find out anyone working on ST/SD in San Diego County? If not, close to San Diego would be ok.

Thanks very much
Thin-Choy

Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997
From: Eva E Toth <etoth+@pitt.edu>
Subject: Introduction and stella questions
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu

Hello,

I am Eva Toth a post-doctoral resarch associate at the U. Pittsburgh, LRDC. For several years before I completed my disseration I have worked with student-teacher teams in an advanced computing, scientific modeling environment. In the past I worked with students using advanced tools such as SGI computers, scientific data visualization tools such as AVS and CRAY supercomputers. Now I am trying to be a bit more 'down-to-earth'and learn more about what can be done with 'simple' modeling and visualization tools in the classrooms. I am thinking of Stella II, NIH Image and the like. (Are there other/better tools out there that are reasonable for k-12 use?)

With my current research I am hoping to learn more about the various scaffolds students need during modeling and visualization. I joined this discussion group because I would like to hear about curriculum ideas that worked and that did not work. Reasons/guesses/plans to improve etc...

I would also like to hear from teachers who have used Stella II or other modeling software in their classes. (What is the difference between the standard and research version of Stella II -- which one is best to use for K-12 authoring for science classes?)

I look forward to chat with you all! Cheers!

--Eva
**************************************************************************
Eva Erdosne Toth
University of Pittsburgh
Learning Research and Development Center
3939 0'Hara Street
Pittsburgh, PA, 15260
etoth+@pitt.edu
http://www.pitt.edu/~etoth/
FAX:412-624-9149
Voice:412-624-7453
**************************************************************************

Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997
From: Edwin Brenegar III <brenegar@bulldog.unca.edu>
Subject: Contacts
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu

To K-12sd friends,

Do any of you know people in the western part of North Carolina, Asheville, Hendersonville, Franklin, Morganton Shelby who are engaged in using SD in schools? I am beginning to write an education column for our local paper, and would like to focus on this aspect of learning at some point. It is always helpful to have a local angle.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ed Brenegar
Leadership Resources
210 Wood Dale Drive
Hendersonville, N.C. 28791
704/693-0720 voice/fax
Email: brenegar@bulldog.unca.edu

Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997
To: "Jim Martin" <jimm@sbii.sb2.pdx.edu>, k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
From: Hedi Baxter <baxter@nconnect.net>
Subject: Re: Getting Stella to Teachers and Students

Hello,

I am very interested in using STELLA programs in my science computer lab, and I would love to attend a workshop to learn how to write STELLA programs-- anyone have any recommendations for any taking place this summer?

Also, I'd like to comment to Jim that the Explorer simulations we use in our biology classes (photosynthesis, cardiovascular system, population dynamics, genetics, and some others) all appear to be STELLA programs; have you seen them? I could be wrong, but they look like STELLA to me.

Cheers!

Hedi Baxter

>At 4:43 PM -0600 3/18/97, Jim Martin wrote:
>My name is Jim Martin. I am attached to the Center for Science Education at Portland State University, >Portland, OR. I have taught grades 5-16+, mostly biology, and have used STELLA models in my
>work. These models have great potential to reduce the average American's deficit in bringing critical
>thinking to local and regional issues. However, STELLA is not part of the arsenal which teachers bring
>to their classrooms. I'm sure there are reasons for this. The one I am interested in is the way STELLA
>and System Dynamics materials are marketed to teachers.
>------------------------------
>Jim Martin
>Center for Science Education
>PSU-CSE, PO Box 751
>>Portland, OR 97207-0751
>>(503) 725-4243, (503) 725-3884 FAX
>>jimm@sbii.sb2.pdx.edu

http://www.nconnect.net/~baxter

baxter@nconnect.net
Hartford Union High School

Date: Tue, 18 Mar 1997
From: Bill Buchanan <waba@sprynet.com>
Reply-To: waba@sprynet.com
Organization: WABA, Inc.
To: ggunn@MIT.EDU
Cc: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: SD/ST

ggunn@MIT.EDU wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> Does anyone have evidence that kids and teachers in schools where Stella (or other system dynamics
>tools) is used exhibit systems thinking outside of classroom problems? In other words, are systems
>ideas and methods internalized by kids and teachers and used to think outside of school?
>
> Any perspectives, experimental or simply anecdotal, would be of interest.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Greg Gunn
--------------------------
Greg....

Good question.....will be looking for how the gallery responds.

My own guess from teaching ST, to date mostly with master's level students, is that it is a kind of "paradigmatic intelligence" and therefore should show up in many ways as individuals gifted with more of it confront complexity. I think, e.g., that the Santa Fe Institute is the world's best institutional example of SD/ST at work, and therefore is a natural attractor basin for individuals gifted in complexity, simulation and synthesis. These three skills represent, for me, a hierarchy of generating meaning, as the brain does its innate metaphysical/epistemological inquiry and construction process, and I'm currently building a computational theoretical framework to make this picture more functionally complete.

I'm an applied cognitive scientist with vested interests in promoting the "what" of SD/ST and measuring when, where, how and why brains do it.
And you....?

Cheers....Bill Buchanan

c/o:
waba@scientist.com
Director
Inst. for Applied Complexity Science
3118 Greer Rd.
Palo Alto, CA. 94303

Date: Wed, 19 Mar 1997
From: George Richardson <gr383@cnsvax.albany.edu>
Subject: Systems thinking and system dynamics in education adm
To: k-12 listserve <k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu>

I forwarded the message requesting info about systems thinking and system dynamics in education administration to the system dynamics list and received a number of replies, which I am about to forward to this list.
So here they come...

...GPR

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
George P. Richardson
G.P.Richardson@Albany.edu
Professor of public administration, public policy & information science
Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
University at Albany - SUNY, Albany, NY 12222
Phone: 518-442-3859
Fax: 518-442-3398
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: albins@MIT.EDU
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
Subject: Creative Learning Exchange
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997

The latest issue of the Creative Learning Exchange newsletter, dated Spring 1997 (volume 6, number 2), is now available for downloading from the Creative Learning Exchange website. The address is:
http://sysdyn.mit.edu/cle/home.html

The lead article is entitled: Systems Thinking and System Dynamics in K-12 Education. This article, by Mary Scheetz, chronicals the history and philosophies of many schools across the nation involved in K-12 systems education. Her study was supported by The Waters Foundation.

Also in this issue:
- A model to explore strategies and ideas about Technology Acquisition, by Matt Hiefield, Sunset High School, Beaverton, Oregon.
- Information on SyM Bowl '97 (Systems Modeling Bowl, a compitition among high school SD students).
- A description of Jim Trierweiler's innovative approach to teaching and grading. (Jim is an eighth grade science teacher from Carlisle, MA.)

For those unfamiliar with the Creative Learning Exchange (CLE), the CLE "encourages a view of education for primary and secondary schools based on discovery as the essence of the learning process. This view advocates systems education implemented through learner-centered learning.

The exchange facilitates communication among teachers and schools and will solicit teaching materials and ideas from participating teachers. After reviewing and editing, the Exchange reproduces materials and sends them out to educators at cost. The material to be exchanged includes:
- processes for introducting systems education and learner-centered learning
- directories of participating schools and teachers to encourage formation of
networks of people with similar interest
- models and lesson plans from both beginner and more experienced teachers
- video tapes of teaching materials, educational approaches, and conference sessions

While supporting the introduction of systems education in school, the Exchange uses the concepts of system dynamics to learn about the process of education in this country and use the knowledge gained to aid in the introdution of systems education to the educational establishment."

[taken from The Creative Learning Exchange brochure (1992)]

Many documents availible from the CLE can be downloaded from the internet for free. A complete list of materials (including videos) can also be downloaded from the CLE website. The address, once again, is:
http://sysdyn.mit.edu/cle/home.html

- Stephanie Albin
MIT System Dynamics in Education Project

Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997
To: k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
From: Nicola BIANCHI <lino@ian.ge.cnr.it>
Subject: QUERY link to Potash & Heinboke's works (simulation of historical events)

I'm very interested in simulation models of historical events. I would like to screen the works mentioned in the hereby enclosed mail, but the specified authors' e-addresses are no longer active.
Could anyone help me?
Thank you very much.

Nicola BIANCHI <bianchi@ge.cnr.it>
CNR - Centre for the History of Technology
Genoa, Italy
=====
Polis project (papers & source code):
<http://www.ge.cnr.it/CST/Inglese/Bianchi/M&S/Polis/sd-conf.html>
=====

Date: Mon, 28 Apr 1997
To: Nicola BIANCHI <lino@ian.ge.cnr.it>, k-12sd@sysdyn.mit.edu
From: rstanley@together.net (Rolfe Stanley)
Subject: Re: QUERY link to Potash & Heinboke's works (simulation of historical events)

JOHN HEINBOKELS EMAIL ADDRESS IS heinboke@charity.trinityvt.edu
..... Nicola BIANCHI wrote:
>I'm very interested in simulation models of historical events.
>I would like to screen the works mentioned in the hereby enclosed
>mail, but the specified authors' e-addresses are no longer active.
>Could anyone help me?
>Thank you very much.
>
>Nicola BIANCHI <bianchi@ge.cnr.it>
>CNR - Centre for the History of Technology
>Genoa, Italy
>=====
>Polis project (papers & source code):
><http://www.ge.cnr.it/CST/Inglese/Bianchi/M&S/Polis/sd-conf.html>
>=====
>>"Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995 09:36:04 +0001 (EST)
>>"From: Bob L Eberlein <vensim@world.std.com>
>>"Subject: Models about causation and prevention of wars
>>"To: system-dynamics@world.std.com
>>"
>>"..........[snip].............
>>"
>>"Cc: Jeff Potash <potash@moose.uvm.edu>, John Heinboke
>>"<heinboke@moose.uvm.edu>
>>"
>>"Though on a somewhat different topic, I would take a look at Jeff Potash "and John Heinboke's >>*Plagues and People* Stella models based on McNeil's "book of the same name. Both the >>Peloponnesian War and the fall of the "Roman Empire are discussed in some detail. McNeil does great >>work on "your topic from a historical perspective. It would be good if you could "do Stella models of >>other of his accounts.
>>"
>>"Jeff and John's e-mail addresses are included in the cc.
>>"..........[snip].............

Rolfe Stanley
Stanley Computer Center
Fletcher Extension

Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997
To: system-dynamics@world.std.com
From: kevinag@MIT.EDU (Kevin Agatstein)
Subject: REPLY Richardson's Problems with Causal Loop Diagrams (SD0844)

Dear SD Community-

This is in reply to Michael Bean's query about articles on loop vs. stock and flow diagrams. Jim Hines suggested:

Richardson, George. 1986. "Problems with causal-loop diagrams." SD
Review 2 (no. 2, Summer, 1986).

This paper can be downloaded, in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf), from the System Dynamics in Education's WWW site at:

http://sysdyn.mit.edu/road-maps/rm-toc.html

Upon arriving at this page scroll down to ROADMAPS Chapter 4. "Problems with causal loop diagrams" is the 6th paper in chapter 4.

Of course, please feel free to download any of the other papers on our WWW site.

Warmest regards,
Kevin Agatstein
MIT System Dynamics in Education Project
kevinag@mit.edu